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UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010      The Japan Times Weekly    2009年11月21日号 (バックナンバー)
 
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Knitting the alliance
(From The Japan Times Nov. 15 issue)

 


要約
日米首脳会談、同盟の強化確認

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama held a summit and a joint news conference Nov. 13 in Tokyo, their second meeting following their first in September on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. They reaffirmed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the basis for stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, and agreed to "deepen" the alliance.

Mr. Hatoyama and Mr. Obama avoided delving very far into the contentious issue of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air facility based on Okinawa. Instead they focused on bilateral cooperation on global issues such as nuclear disarmament and climate change. The Futenma issue is the biggest problem at the moment facing Japan and the United States, and cannot be left unattended. Both Japan and the United States apparently tried to prevent differences between the two nations over this difficult issue from wrecking their summit.

Both leaders agreed to set up a joint ministerial-level working group to find a solution to the Futenma issue at an early date. Not much time is left, since Japan and the United States have budget deadlines linked to the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. Mr. Hatoyama should quickly pick an alternative site for the Futenma function. Just postponing the solution without a clear idea will damage bilateral ties.

Mr. Obama's statement that the 2006 bilateral accord to move the Futenma function to Camp Schwab should be the basis of a solution puts pressure on Mr. Hatoyama. But the United States should understand that Mr. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan promised during the Lower House election campaign to find a new site for Futenma outside Okinawa or even outside Japan. The two countries should bear in mind that an irreconcilable rift over the Futenma issue would cost both nations a lot.

Japan and the United States called on nuclear weapons states to respect the principles of "transparency, verifiability and irreversibility" in the process of nuclear disarmament, and both agreed to commit to "the early entry into force" of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. They also called on North Korea to "return immediately" to the six-party talks for "the irreversible and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," and agreed to work for the success of the Nuclear Security Summit and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2010.

It is hoped that the two countries' cooperation will give impetus to global efforts toward nuclear disarmament, although the path is not easy. Mr. Obama hinted that he will visit the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima in the future, saying that "it's something that would be meaningful to me." This is a courageous act on the part of a U.S. president considering the prevalent view in the United States that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified.

Mr. Hatoyama and Mr. Obama also reaffirmed that "shifting to low-carbon growth is indispensable to the health of our planet and will play a central role in reviving the global economy." They agreed that it is "vital that we achieve a successful outcome" at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in December in Copenhagen. At home, though, Mr. Obama faces resistance to his efforts to cut emissions. Mr. Hatoyama, for his part, should quickly work out the details of his pledge to cut Japan's reductions 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and persuade industries to accept his plan.

Mr. Obama thanked Japan for its decision to provide $5 billion for civilian aid to Afghanistan over the next five years — in place of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's fueling mission in the Indian Ocean. While this is meaningful, Japan may face difficulty in carrying out the plan due to the unstable situation in that country.

Shortly before taking power, Mr. Hatoyama said the East Asian region is "Japan's basic sphere of being," raising suspicions in the United States that he was anti-American. As if to dispel this suspicion, he said the basis of his idea of an East Asia Community is the Japan-U.S. alliance and called for a bigger U.S. presence in Asia. The two leaders agreed to begin a year of consultations to review the alliance as 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Japan can make the special bilateral relationship mutually trustworthy without becoming subservient to the United States.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 21, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
 

鳩山首相とオバマ米大統領は首脳会談と共同会見で、日米同盟はアジア太平洋地域の安定と繁栄の基軸と再確認し、同盟の「深化」で合意した。両首脳は普天間問題を主要議題からはずし、非核化や気候変動など地球規模の課題での協力を話し合った。普天間問題における両国の食い違いが会談を台無しにすることを避けたようだ。

鳩山首相は普天間の代替施設建設地を早期に決定すべきだ。大統領は2006年の日米合意に基づいた決着を迫っているが、民主党が衆院選で県外・国外移設を公約したことに米国側も理解を示すべきだ。

両国は核兵器保有国に「透明性、検証可能性、不可逆性」の原則の尊重を要求、核実験全面禁止条約会議の早期批准を目指すことで合意した。また北朝鮮に6ヵ国協議復帰を求め、核安全保障サミットと核拡散防止条約再検討会議の成功に向けた連帯を確認した。大統領は広島訪問の可能性に触れたが、米国で原爆投下の正当化が根強いことを考えると大胆な発言だ。

両首脳は低炭素・グリーン成長の重要性や、国連気候変動サミットの成功に向けた協力で一致した。米国ではCO2排出削減への抵抗は強い。日本も25 % 削減の具体化を急ぐ必要がある。

日本のアフガニスタン民生支援50億ドル決定に大統領は謝意を示したが、不安定なアフガン情勢の中での支援実行は難しいかもしれない。

鳩山首相は就任前、東アジアは日本が第一次的に存在している地域だと言ったが、今回は米国の懸念を払拭するかのように、東アジア共同体は日米同盟を基軸にしたもので、アジアでの米国の関与強化を期待すると述べた。双方は日米安保条約改定50周年の来年、同盟を再検討することで合意。日本は米国追随ではなく信頼に基づいた特別な2国間関係を築くことができる。

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